Do you think they have an advantage?

[Lizzie2 5]

Hi Everyone

Did you see the Paralympic World Cup (Manchester, UK) last weekend? :)

The young South African athlete, Oscar Pistorius, excelled again - I think he's amazing! However, his achievements on the track seem to have started a debate: Is being a disabled athlete an advantage?

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/athletics/comm...1484190,00.html

I'm just wondering, do you think there is an advantage? Or, do you think that this is a case of 'sour grapes'?

Lizzie

[Muz 0]

I think the article covers most of the answers. There is no clear cut answer to this. On the one hand it is the technology that creates these running limbs but as the article mentions some people are born better suited to running than others.

I don't like the idea that the ruling bodies could draw up strict rules on the types of material allowed as this could have an adverse affect for the rest of us. Just as in motor sport, where todays cutting edge technology filters down to tomorrows family car, so must the technology developed for running feet filter to us mere mortals who require something a bit more responsive than a block of wood.

Perhaps the only answer is to maintain the status quo. We have seperate events for men and women so why feel it is so bad to have a seperate event for disabled athletes.

[Cat 2]

I say good luck to him and his quest for speed and if he wants to compete against able bodied athletes then he should be allowed to do it. Able bodies athletes look for, and take, every advantage they can to get extra speed or endurance, so I see no difference.

Before the last Olympics the rules were modified to allow transsexuals to compete in their "chosen" gender, so why shouldn't he be able to compete?

All for one and one for all :D

[PamR 0]

lol, :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Sheila 0]

I agree Cat, he should be allowed to compete against able bodied athletes. I mean why should he be punished b/c of his disability, hasn't he been punished enough already. If they feel, there's a disadvantage there, then I say, "hook on some springs and go for it"!! B) Sheeeesh, give me a break!

That makes me think of the time, when this young golfer named Cassey, I can't recall his last name, but perhaps some have heard of him and this case. He wanted to play in the PGA Tour, but couldn't unless he used a golf cart to get him around, due to a bad circulation disease (if I remember correctly) in one of his legs, which he came very close to losing. But on the tour the rules are such, that no one has ever been allowed to use a cart before. He fought this through the court system and WON!!! :D Many disagreed, saying that he shouldn't be playing, if he couldn't keep up. They claimed that he would have the advantage, by not being as tired as the others, who had to walk, which IMPO was a selfish way of thinking. It wasn't as though he was asking for someone to get out of the cart and make his shots for him. He just couldn't walk that distance on an 18 hole golf course and not end up worsing his condition, or perhaps even losing his leg. I see it as, say someone was a baseball player and had a serious condition, where he couldn't swing the bat, but was a heck of a runner. I DON'T believe it would be fair, to bring someone in and let them swing the bat for him, so that he could score a base. IMPO, this was not what Cassey was asking for, but rather, just a little motorized assistance, to get him from point A, to point B and he'd do the rest, but never did find out what he ended up with as a final score. :(

Anyways, I don't know how others see this, fair or not, but my point of view is, I don't see a golf cart enhancing ones golf performance. Just an opinion. :D

Sheila lbk

Maine USA

Keep Smiling :)

Kindness goes a long ways, so let there be enough for everyone.

[Muz 0]

so he doesn't have to swing all that meat back and forth

Don't women have that advantage Marcus?? Maybe that's why they run in separate events :P :P :o :lol:

[Afet 0]

. . .there are just way too many boobie traps I could fall into

Haha, YOU WISH, Marcus! :lol: :lol:

[Pornster 0]

HA~~Just a case of sour grapes. Ask those abled bodied atheles to chop off both their shins , then ask them to replicate the timings on their state of art prosthesis. Not all of them will be able to do that, its a matter of mental strength as well.